


The Western Air Temple

by W01FS0NG



Series: The Tale of the Lavabender [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen, Mention of Death, The Gaang - Freeform, The Western Air Temple - Freeform, lavabending, mention of Azula, mention of descrimination, to trust or not to trust Zuko
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:01:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24759739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/W01FS0NG/pseuds/W01FS0NG
Summary: “What are you doing out here?”“I could ask the same about you.”“You won’t be asking me anything.”“Heiwa, please, I want to talk to you-“
Series: The Tale of the Lavabender [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1787455
Kudos: 6





	1. She joins

**Author's Note:**

> Whooo! Second part of the series! This will have two chapters, I'm still working on that second one.

Heiwa Natu now thought that going to the palace was the biggest mistake of her life. Right from the start she thought that something was off, but Mushi thought that it meant big business for the Jasmine Dragon. Oh how he was wrong.

Not only was it a trap set by the Fire Nation Princess Azula, but Heiwa also found out that the old man and his nephew were related to her. Heiwa’s suspicions were finally confirmed. Zuko and Iroh have never seen her bend, so this would come as a shocker and many even a betrayal to the Prince when they saw her use lava to defend themselves. Long story short, as Team Avatar escaped, Heiwa and Iroh were captured by the Dai Lee and handed over to the Fire Nation.

At first, the palace came off as apprehensive but nice towards Kaen. She was part Firebender after all. Azula and Mai looked and interacted with her in indifference. Ty Lee was more accepting. This one night, however, she was kidnapped and taken to a metal cage suspended in the air. When she asked why, they simply told her that she was a freak. Nothing more, and she didn’t deserve to be in the palace. The one person left who wasn’t in jail and who was still considered akin to family, Zuko, never visited her. Neither did Ty Lee. She was led to assume that they’ve been faking their liking towards her the entire time. She was, however, aided in escape by a very nice female guard. 

From then on, she went to the wilderness in search of Team Avatar. That’s where she reconnected with Zuko. Well, encountered was more of what she wanted it to be.

She was just walking around the forest of the island when she happened upon a camp and a frustrated Zuko talking to a frog. Wanting to get away, she stepped backwards. In doing so, however, she stepped on a twig.

Alert, he turned to look at her. First determination then shock appeared on his face. He stepped forward. “Heiwa?”

“Zuko,” she acknowledged. He took another step forward, she stepped back. Her hands were up, ready to protect herself. “What are you doing here?” She asked rudely. “Hunting down the Avatar?”

The way she asked it hurt him deeply. “No.” She knew deep down that he was lying but something seemed genuine.

“Then what are you doing out here?” She stepped back once more.

“I could ask the same about you.” Zuko took another step forward. 

“You won’t be asking me anything,” Heiwa said coldly before turning around and walking away.

“Heiwa, please, I want to talk to you-“ as he took another step forward, she turned and broke the earth apart, lava spewed towards him.

“You have nothing to say to me!” He stepped back cautiously. “You never cared! You only lulled me into a false sense of security before locking me in a cell! Everyone there saw me as a freak because of my bending! You didn’t even visit me!”

“I didn’t know where they took you! I tried. I really tried to look for you.”

“Well it wasn’t enough!” He dared to step closer. She dared to make the lava hole larger. “I never want to see your face again! Do you hear me?!”

“Heiwa! Please! I’m going to join the Avatar. I’ve changed. If you would just give me a chance to-”

“Somehow I don’t believe you!” She bent lava his way prompting for Zuko to try and block it with his own fire. As she walked away from him, fire blocked her exit. 

“Please. Will you allow me to explain?”

Next, they engaged in a tussle. Rock and flame spewed at each other as the two of them danced around the clearing in battle. The fight lasted long. Then finally they tripped each other. He landed on top of her. Zuko hovered over her still figure. Time seemed to freeze between them. 

Heiwa kicked Zuko in the stomach, yelling, “Get off!” She sprinted to the edge of the stage and looked back at him. Noticing him staring at her, she shook her head and ran off.

__________

She eventually made it to the Air Temple. Surprise surprise Team Avatar resided there. Although, she did proceed with caution. The sixteen-year-old used a rope to climb down. It looked like an upside down city. Heiwa made it only a few yards before she encountered a tall young man with long hair and a mustache.

“Uh, hi,” she said to him.

“Hi.” He said.

Two other people come barreling towards them, a boy in a wheelchair and a really short boy. They almost knocked Heiwa over before almost crashing into the wall. “Sorry, Miss,” they both exclaimed.

She sighed. “It’s okay.” She then looked towards the man and said sort of timidly, “Hey, I’m looking for the Avatar. I want to speak with him. Is he here?”

He hesitated, evaluating whether or not she's a threat. “Uh, sure. Come on.” The two of them walked out of the room followed by the smaller kids.

They brought her over to where four teenagers sat around rocks at the edge of the platform. One of them didn’t look familiar. The two girls did, though she couldn’t quite place it. A boy with an arrow on his head was also there. He must be the Avatar.

“Hey guys,” the man stated. They all turned to him. “She just dropped by wanting to speak with you.”

“Oh, okay, thanks Haru,” the Avatar stated. Haru and the two kids walked away from them.

“Wait a minute,” the girl in the blue clothes said. She stood up abruptly. “Heiwa?” 

She turned towards her and peered at her, trying to see who she was. “Katara?” She recognized.

“Wait, you know each other?” Arrowhead kid questioned.

“Oh, we met in Ba Sing Se,” Heiwa explained, offering up nothing more.

“Hey, wait, weren’t you in the catacombs with Zuko?!” The Avatar exclaimed.

“I Uh, well, I guess I’ll just say this.” She then looked back at the Avatar. “I was traveling with Zuko. Although, it wasn’t until then that I found out he _was_ Zuko. He introduced himself to me as Lee. Anyway, I got captured. At first he acted like he didn’t want me to be imprisoned, like Iroh was. Then, I get kidnapped and jailed by the palace guards. No visit from him whatsoever. So then I break out finding my way towards you guys… because… I want to help you take the Fire Nation down.”

“Why were you going to be put in jail in the first place anyway?” The other teenage boy questioned. He wore water tribe clothes like Katara.

“Well, at first it was probably because I was in league with Iroh, but the second time… I’ll just show you.” She stepped away from them, opening the rock platform up just a bit before heating it up, turning it into lava. Gasped escaped all of their lips. Heiwa then cooled the molten rock back down. She then turned to them, saying, “My father was an Earthbender, and my mother was a Firebender. This power makes me a lavabender.”

“That’s so cool!” The Avatar exclaimed, using air to jump next to me.

“You-you think?” She asked him.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I?”

She turned away from them. “It’s just that, everyone else… firebenders especially… view me as a freak.”

“Well, I don’t see you as a freak,” he told her. She smiled weakly.

“Neither do we,” the water tribe boy stated.

“I can’t see at all,” remarked Toph. “But, I don’t think of you as a freak. Hey, maybe we could both be the greatest Earthbenders in the world! I can metalbend!”

Heiwa’s eyes widened, followed by her smile. “You can?! I thought that bending style was just a myth!” 

“Nope!”

Soon it got to be time for dinner. It was Haru’s turn to cook. While he prepared the meal, the rest of the team bonded over their frustration with Zuko and wrongdoings the Fire Nation has done. The team also told Heiwa many tales of their travels. 

“So, when did you know you could lavabend?” Katara asked Heiwa. She remained silent. “It’s okay if you don’t wanna answer. I totally get it if it’s a touchy subject you don’t want to talk about.”

“No, it’s, it’s alright,” the Lavabender stated meekly. She then decided to tell them and in her normal voice, she told them, “In the colony where I grew up, everyone hated us. The Firebenders and the Earthbenders. They hated my parents for getting married and they hated me for existing. Then, one day, about ten months ago, all the people congregated and formed this giant mob. They killed my parents and then decided to burn and sink the house. The fire suffocated my only friend. I watched him die in my arms as he gave me a protective cloth. Enraged, I Lavabended for the first time. To the townspeople that only proved I was an abomination. I ran away and didn’t look back.”

“Wow, Heiwa, I’m sorry,” Katara told her. Whether the apology was for what happened, ever asking, or even both, the Lavabender wasn’t sure, but she accepted the apology anyway.

“It’s okay.” She then turned to Toph. “Please tell me you discovered your metalbending powers in a less traumatizing situation.”

“Well, I can’t say if trauma is any less or more than one situation or another,” Toph considered. “But since you shared… growing up, my parents always treated me like I was made out of glass just because I’m blind. And when they discovered I could Earthbend, they only had me do the basics. I had to go to an underground fight club as an outlet, and got pretty good at it too. Then Twinkle Toes came along and I decided to go with him to teach him Earthbending. A while later, these two people who were hired to take me back to my parents locked me in a metal cage. I had to metalbend to get out of there.”

“Well, I’m glad we met,” Heiwa stated. “And I’m glad that I’m on your guy’s side.”

Needless to say, she felt like she had finally found her people. They definitely weren’t in the colony she grew up in, and they definitely weren’t in Ba Sing Se. Well, only one was in Ba Sing Se. Yet still, the team is the most accepting people that she’s ever met. She’ll fit right in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I for some reason had Safe And Sound by Taylor Swift stuck in my head while I wrote this... anyway I hope you enjoyed reading the first chapter!


	2. He Joins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo! I finally finished it. Let me know if you like or don't like it!

The next day, it was really quiet in the Raveen. Well, until Aang decided he wanted to fly around instead of making plans to destroy the Fire Nation. Sokka has to chase him down on Appa. They then landed on one of the lower platforms and stayed there for a while. She took the time to eat some breakfast in peace and quiet.

When they returned, they all had a sour expression on their face. “What happened?” She asked them.

“Zuko happened,” Katara stated with annoyance.

“He’s here?” Heiwa’s eyes widened at the Wsterbender’s statement.

“Well actually, he just left,” Sokka told her. “We all kicked him out.”

She walked closer to them and sat down. The others did too. “What did he tell you?” 

“That he’s changed and that he wanted to join the group,” Aang sighed.

Toph threw her arms up. “He even sent Combustion Man after us! That guy was terrifying!”

“I’m sorry,” said Heiwa. “Who is this?”

“Oh, just a man who hunted us down and tried to kill us,” the Water Tribe boy waved off as if the tale couldn’t even be bothered.

“He locked Toph and I up in a cell in an effort to bait Aang and kill him,” Katara explained.

“Ohhhh, got it,” nodded Heiwa. She then slouched. “He’s going to try and join our group again, isn’t he?”

“Oh, spirits I hope not,” Katara stated.

“Guys, again,” Toph stated. “We have to at least consider it. Zuko is the only Firebender around who’s willing to teach Aang.”

“And I told you, I’m not having _him_ as my teacher!” The Airbender half-yelled.

—————

Knowing that Toph was right, Heiwa went up to her that afternoon after she and the Avatar practiced some Earthbending. “Hey, Toph?” She got the fellow Earthbender’s attention.

“Yeah?” She asked.

“I know where Zuko’s camping out. I’ve been going over it in my head and you’re right. He _is_ the only chance of Aang getting to learn Firebending.”

“So then, where is he?” Heiwa knee that Toph could feel around with her feet to find out where he was, but she probably wanted to test her.

“Just follow the sound of the river. He’s close to it.”

“How would you know where he is anyway?”

“I happened to stumble across it on my way over here. I’d go with you, but I also promised Aang to try and teach him Lavabending.” She wondered if the blind teen caught her lie with her feet.

If she did, she didn’t say anything. Instead, she just said, “It’s okay. Thanks.” 

As they began to walk away from each other, Heiwa stopped. The Lavabender quickly turned around. “Oh, and Toph, be careful, okay?” The Metalbender raised a hand in goodbye to signify that she heard her.

—————

Heiwa knew that teaching Aang how to Lavabend would eventually get him more comfortable with fire. The two of them were in the forest as neither was willing to wreck the temple. First, though, she went over a few basic things. 

“Lavabending is a lot like Earthbending, except the rock is heated. You can phase-change the earth into molten goo. But make no mistake. It’s dangerous. Let’s start by just opening up some rock, yeah?” She jumped up, bringing her hands close to her center as she fell. The teen landed on her knee which cracked the ground. Then, she pulled her hands apart which opened up a pocket in the earth.

“You don’t need a lot of earth to create lava.” She stomped the ground, moving her arms up with her palms open, facing the same direction. Molten rock spilled out. With a kick and a flip, she led the substance to the left, making it bigger. Then, she cooled the rock down. Heiwa then turned to Aang. “It’s okay if you don’t get it your first try. The first time it happened, I was pretty sure it was a fluke because I couldn’t do it for a little while. But then I got a feeling for it.”

Aang copies her movements, but all that came out was the tiniest amazing of lava. The Avatar looked down dejected. “It’s alright,” she reminded him. “We can still work with this.” She lifted the small amount of lava into the air and spun it. He looked at her amazed. She moved it around. The molten rock flowed more like water as it followed the path of her hand. “Hey, maybe you can think of it more like waterbending, but with molten rock.” She set the lava back onto the ground. It slowly sunk into the earth.

Taking in a deep breath, Aang called upon the small amount of lava, making it float just a little bit. It shakily followed the movement of his hands before falling to the ground. The Avatar groaned in frustration.

“Is something else bothering you?” She asked gently, cooling the rocks down.

“I’m sorry, it’s just that with Zuko showing up, I can’t help but think of it like fire and then my head starts reeling.” As he talked, Heiwa walked over to a tree to lean on.

“You really don’t want him as your teacher, huh?” She asked him, slouching against the bark.

“After all that he’s done,” he plopped down on the grass. “I don’t think I can forgive him.”

“That’s not very monk-like of you, but I get it. Maybe you don’t forgive him, and that’s okay because you need to just get over it and start learning. Don’t focus on the teacher, focus on the material.”

“Now who’s sounding monk-like?” He quipped, making her giggle.

“Alright, we should probably head back. Katara wanted my help with her cooking.”

——————

The next morning, everyone was getting themselves some rice for breakfast. Well, all except Toph. She hasn’t exactly been seen since yesterday afternoon. Heiwa was beginning to be very worried about her.

“Has anyone seen Toph?” Katara asked as she filled her bowl.

“Not since she stormed off yesterday,” Sokka stated.

“Maybe she’s just exploring the air temple,” Haru theorized, leaning against a post. “There are some pretty fun spots to practice Earthbending.”

“I think we should go look for her,” Katara suggested.

“Oh, let her have fun with her rocks. I’m in no rush to have her yelling at us again,” stated Sokka, believing Haru’s theory to be true. But it wasn’t. Heiwa knew for a fact that she went to find Zuko. 

“No, I think we should,” Heiwa told them. 

“We could go check for her,” Duke suggested. He meant himself, Teo, and Haru. 

“Yeah,” Teo agreed. “I want to ride that tunnel down to the hall of statues again.” He touched the break on his right wheel. “It’ll work a lot better now that I fixed my brakes.” He then wheeled off. The other two followed.

Suddenly, the walls began to shake and a hole appeared. Smaller rocks spilled out of it as well as Toph. Quickly, Heiwa ran over to her. The others did too.

“Toph! What happened?” Katara asked her with great concern. 

“My feet got burned,” the metal bender told them, having her feet up in the air.

“Shoot, Toph, I’m sorry,” Heiwa told her. “Maybe we shouldn't've-“

“No, it’s alright,” Toph said. “It was my choice to go.”

“What shouldn’t you have done?” Katara asked them in an almost threatening motherly tone.

“I kind of went to see Zuko…” Toph trailed off.

“And I kind of told her where to find him…” Heiwa admitted.

“You what?!” Aang yelled. 

“Zuko?!” Katara questioned as she got out a bunch of water to heal Toph’s feet.

“Wait, how did _you_ know where to find Zuko?” Sokka questioned Heiwa, pointing his boomerang at her.

“I just stumbled across his camp on my way over to you guys. I saw him, but he didn’t see me,” the lavabender lied. 

“We thought he could be helpful to us,” Toph elaborated. “And if I talked to him, maybe we could work something out. 

“So he attacked you?” Sokka asked.

“Well, he did and he didn’t. It was sort of an accident.”

“But he did firebend at you,” Aang wanted to specify.

The blind girl sighed. “Yes.”

“ _See?”_ Sokka stated. “You trusted Zuko, and you got burned… literally. 

Katara pulled back her healing water from Toph’s feet, saying, “It’s going to take a while for your feet to get better. I wish I could have worked on them sooner.”

“Yeah, me too,” Toph retorted.

“Zuko’s clearly too dangerous for him to be left alone,” thought Sokka out loud. “We’re gonna have to go after him.”

“I hate to go looking for a fight, but you’re right,” Aang seconded. “After what he did to Toph, I don’t think we have a choice.” The two of them helped Toph up, even carrying her over to their main spot.

“Why not just let him come back here?” Heiwa suggested. “If he offered himself as a prisoner already, then he’ll probably do it again,” she elaborated as she walked next to the three of them. Katara trailed behind.

“Yeah…” Sokka formulated a plan. “Get him to come back and say he’s our prisoner, then we’ll jump him and he’ll _really_ be our prisoner. He’ll never suspect it!”

“You are a master of surprise, Sokka,” his younger sister stated sarcastically.

They took her over to the waterfall. “Ah, that’s the stuff,” the blind girl said as Sokka and Aang lowered her into the water. “Now I know how you guys feel. Not being able to see with your feet stinks.”

All of a sudden, something blasted into the architecture. “What was that?!” Heiwa yelled.

“Stop!” called a voice. It was Zuko’s. “I don’t want you hunting the Avatar anymore!” So then, this must be the Combustion guy that they’ve been talking about. The teens spotted them on a ridge. “The mission is off. I’m ordering you to stop.” He was pushed out of the way, and another strange explosion was aimed at the kids who huddled together behind the wall of the fountain. Apparently, these blasts were coming from his forehead. Heiwa could barely hear Zuko. “If you keep attacking, I won’t pay you.” She looked at the prince getting stopped in his tracks by just a simple reach of the arm. “Alright! I’ll pay you double to stop.” Another explosion sounded.

Then suddenly, Zuko hung from a vine, having been pushed off by the buff assassin. Aang then sent a tornado his way. The man dodged and came at them. Katara chose to attack, sending a bunch of water at him that soon became ice shards. Then quickly, they hid behind the wall close to where Toph re-emerged.

“He’s going to blast this whole place right off the cliffside,” noted Toph in panic. 

Katara looked back at the man and then dodged another one of his blasts. “I can’t step out to waterbend at him without getting blown up. And I can’t get a good enough angle on him from down here.” She was closest to the edge of the wall, followed by Heiwa, Sokka, Aang, and Toph.

“I can’t lavabend without this ending in near-total destruction,” Heiwa told the group. “My earthbending would just be destroyed.”

“I know how to get an angle on him,” Sokka stated. He switched places with his bending friends and took out his boomerang. Next, he poked his head out. Three more blasts came their way, but each one wasn’t close enough. Combustion Man didn’t have a good angle on them from their hiding spot. The Water Tribe boy followed the concentrated line of trajectory that appeared before every explosion. “Alright, buddy, don’t fail me now,” he talked to his weapon before throwing it. 

The tactic must have worked because he jumped up to catch the weapon upon its return yelling, “Yeah, boomerang!” Everyone else walked out from their hiding spot. But then, the assassin got back up, rubbing his forehead. Disappointed, Sokka peered down at the boomerang. “Aw, boomerang…” Before he could fire another blast, they went back behind the wall.

An explosion sounded, but it didn’t occur anywhere near the teens. Soon, they decided to peer at what had happened. An entire section of walkway fell into the ravine. Presumably, Combustion Man was with the rubble. Zuko, however, had begun to climb the vine back up to safety. 

The banished prince walked up to the Gaang. The Avatar stated, “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but thanks, Zuko.”

“Hey, what about me?” Sokka asked cooly. “I did the boomerang thing.”

“Thanks, Sokka,” Heiwa felt the need to do. She then crossed her arms.

“Listen,” said Zuko as he approached. “I know I didn’t explain myself very well yesterday. I’ve been through a lot in the past few years, and it’s been hard. But I’m realizing that I had to go through all those things to learn the truth. I thought I had lost my honor and that somehow my father could return it to me. But I know now that no one can give you your honor. It’s something you earn for yourself by choosing to do what’s right. All I want now is to play my part in this war. And I know my destiny is to help you restore balance to the world.” He then turned to Toph and bowed. “I’m sorry for what I did to you. It was an accident. Fire can be dangerous and wild. So as a Firebender, I need to be more careful and control my bending so I don’t hurt people unintentionally.”

“I think you are supposed to be my Firebending teacher,” Aang realized. “When I first tried to learn Firebending,” he stepped closer to Zuko. “I burned Katara. And after that, I never wanted to Firebend again. But now I know you understand how easy it is to hurt the people you love.” He then bowed towards the prince. “I’d like you to teach me.”

“Thank you,” Zuko bowed. They rose together. “I’m so happy you’ve accepted me into your group.”

“Not so fast.” The Firebender’s eyes looked saddened at the Avatar’s words. “I still have to ask my friends if it’s okay with them.” He first turned to Toph, saying, “Toph, you’re the one that Zuko burned. What do you think?”

“Go ahead and let him join,” she told him. “It’ll give me plenty of time to get back at him for burning my feet.” 

The young Airbender then turned to Heiwa. She asked, “Remember our conversation yesterday? I’m perfectly okay with him teaching you. But I’m still not okay with what happened between him and myself.” 

“I understand,” said Zuko. “And I hope to make it up to you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she said with slight annoyance. With that, she then left them. 

Sokka’s reply was similar to hers. “All I want is to defeat the Firelord. If you think this is the way to do it, then I’m all for it.”

Katara was the least forgiving. It wasn’t in her words, but it was in her tone. Harsh and almost angered. “I’ll go along with whatever you think is right.” It definitely doesn’t mean she agrees with it though. 

“I won’t let you down, I promise,” Zuko assured them.

__________

Heiwa was on her way to her new room when she spotted Katara by the door. Quickly, she placed herself behind a small pillar. She could still hear them. Her words were laced with malice “You might have everyone else here buying your transformation. But you, Heiwa, and I know you’ve struggled with doing the right thing in the past. So let me tell you something right now. You make one step backward, one slip-up, give me one reason to think you might hurt Aang, and you won’t have to worry about your destiny anymore. Because I’ll make sure your destiny ends. Right then and there. Permanently.”

That would certainly do the job of threatening him. At least Heiwa doesn’t have to do that. She watched the Water Tribe teen walk out of his room. The Lavabender then decided against talking to him today. Too many memories bouncing around her head. She’s not even sure when she’d even consider speaking to him again, but today just isn’t the day.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
